In internal combustion engines that utilize gaseous fuel as a sole source of energy for combustion, such as spark ignited gaseous fuel engines, and in engines that utilize gaseous fuel in combination with another fuel as the source of energy for combustion, such as dual fuel engines and blended fuel engines, a gaseous fuel admission valve is typically used to control admission of the gaseous fuel from a gaseous fuel manifold into an air inlet passage such as intake port wherein the gaseous fuel mixes with air enroute to a combustion cylinder of the engine. Such gaseous fuel admission valves are typically electronically controlled by an engine control module to open and close at appropriate times to allow admission of a determined quantity of the gaseous fuel into the air inlet passage. In a spark ignited engine, the mixture of gaseous fuel and air is ignited in the combustion chamber by a spark plug. In a dual fuel engine, a determined quantity of diesel fuel is injected into the combustion cylinder and is ignited by compression so as to combust and ignite the mixture of gaseous fuel and air. Reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,724, issued Mar. 2, 1995 to Woodward Governor Company, which discloses a representative gaseous fuel admission valve.
A problem that can occur during the operation of gaseous fuel admission valves, is that the valves can become stuck or fixed in an open position, usually caused by a small piece of debris, hereinafter referred to as an open fault condition, thereby allowing a continuous flow of gaseous fuel into the inlet passage. The gaseous fuel can collect in the inlet passage and result in an undesirably high fuel delivery to the affected combustion cylinder associated with the stuck open gaseous fuel admission valve. This can result in a deviation in the expected ratio of gaseous fuel to air in the affected combustion cylinder, thereby causing potentially engine damaging severe detonation conditions in the affected combustion cylinder, which detonation conditions are typically detectable, for instance, by a detonation sensor of the engine.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.